She entered national political prominence in 2006, when she became the leader of the IFP Youth Brigade. The following year, on 1 April 2007, she was sworn in to an IFP seat in the
National Assembly, filling a casual vacancy. She was re-elected to a full legislative term in the
2009 general election. Though Lebenya-Ntanzi was the IFP's youngest representative in
Parliament, her tenure caused tensions within the IFP Youth Brigade, as some camps alleged that her priority was "to appease the elders in the party". She resigned from her legislative seat midway through the term, with effect from 1 May 2012, The
Witness said that Lebenya-Ntanzi had been forced to resign by her party after "a reported fallout" with
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the IFP's leader. However, Buthelezi later disputed that there had been "some kind of confrontation": Shortly after her resignation from Parliament, in July 2012, Lebenya-Ntanzi joined the IFP's rival, the governing ANC. == Personal life ==